Posted on 04/20/2002 10:17:35 AM PDT by ex-Texan
DUH--it just came to me--ALL transplant patients are immunocompromised because they must take drugs to suppress the immune system's effort to reject the transplanted organ.
And people are strangely surprised.......
Kinda off the subject of antibiotics, but I also believe that hormones in our meat and poultry is a problem. Hormones control the very basic functions of our physiology. Potential for serious problems on every level of endocrinology--from early puberty, diabetes, etc., etc.
Immunocompromised -- see post # 55 and # 56
Cancer
Transplants
HIV
If the resistant forms of bacteria are being created by those with weakend immune systems, then we're in big trouble.
"You are what you eat" - and antibiotics are givin to animals too, via FDA regulations.
About 60 years ago, Edgar Cayce said an almond a day or two and you need never fear cancer.
Ever wonder why the Cancer Society keeps studying the peach pit for a possible cure? Patents. Patents bring in more money. Why the peach pit? It's a very close RELATIVE to the almond. The almond would have be sold like asprin, a medicine produced from the peach pit would be costly.
Asprin is cheap. It's a natural medicine from the bark of the willow tree. It can't be patented. Tylonol can. Notice the difference in price?
Not to mention the fact that the American Cancer Society is a huge multimillion dollar institution. A cure for cancer would break the bank. Millions would be unemployed. It also keeps the population down, and Social Security payments to a minimum. The more who die early, the more the government keeps.
BUT, they're all we have ?
Correction: if prescription drugs for Medicare patients becomes law, it will have the intended consequence of lowering the amount of money private drug companies can put into research.
For freedom,
Locke
Now there's another issue. Don't these anti-capitalist freaks realize that companies are the ones who pay people? That's where JOBS come from? If the companies fall, the paychecks fall, the taxes collected fall, the social programs can't be paid for, and who will foot the bill? God sending manna from heaven? Heck, he's about to throw fire and brimstone at these people! What the hell are they thinking? I mean...DUH!
Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. Save the stomach, or save the liver. I'll take the natural cheaper brand and live with the ulcer. Can't live without a liver. Thanks.
If they managed to get a patent on the peach pit medicine, I'm sure it would be different, and probably more dangerous, than the almond, too. That's just an assumption.
Right. The drugs are expensive mostly because of the extensive testing required by the FDA and the ridiculous lawsuits. If I had my way the FDA would only be a clearing house for information. If a drug company released all information for a drug to the FDA, they would be exposed only to lawsuits for negligence. Every person would decide for themselves whether the danger and side effects were worth the risk. How many dying people out there would jump at the chance for a miracle drug?
I am sorry about your Mom. Losing a loved one is never easy.
However, Coumadin is a drug that has been around for a long time. It is prescribed for blood clots. If Coumadin has a synergistic action with Tylenol, I am not aware-- Tylenol in excessive doses is toxic to the liver. Consumers need to understand that there is not a drug--including aspirin, that does not have side effects. It is up to the patient/consumer to be informed. If the doctor was not regularly monitoring her clotting and bleeding time, he was the one that was negligent--not the drug company.
My condolences on your loss...
This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. Why should doctors or the government have all the information and make all the decisions for us? We are literate adults. And all of us here in FreeRepublic can use the internet. If the FDA kept all the data for those drugs online, you could have looked up the side effects and not had to rely on the "experts". You could have raised the BS flag. Or accepted the risk knowingly.
It was on the world news. Must have been ABC, NBC, or CBS. We didn't have the cable then. Mom had been gone for about a year. When I heard it, I'll admit I was a little pis*ed.
(Thanks for the condolences.)
Study: Acetaminophen, warfarin a dangerous combination
March 3, 1998
(CNN) -- Researchers say that those who take Tylenol or other forms of acetaminophen along with the widely used blood-thinning drug warfarin may face the risk of serious internal bleeding.
The study confirms a hazard that has been known for three decades but has been not been communicated to patients and seems to have been forgotten by many doctors.
Taking frequent doses of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, increases the blood-thinning effect of warfarin, according to an article published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Millions of Americans take warfarin -- which is also known as Coumadin -- for heart conditions to prevent the formation of blood clots that could cause strokes. It is also taken to prevent clots around replacement heart valves and to dissolve clots in the legs or lungs.
"While acetaminophen generally is a very safe drug for pain and fever," people on warfarin who take acetaminophen for at least seven days in a row should be closely watched for bleeding, said the study's lead author, Dr. Elaine Hylek of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Warfarin's effects can be altered by many things -- illness, other medications, even certain foods -- so treatment involves a delicate balance: Too little blood-thinning can cause a clot that could travel to the brain and cause a stroke; too much thinning can lead to deadly internal bleeding.
No, it was a bitter, rhetorical comment. Again, I am distressed that people are so quick to criticize these companies who have improved all of our lives many times over with their brillant medicines. Whatever comes next, I don't believe it's a fault of anyone. These are powerful substances. Through experience, we will learn how to use them wisely. Mankind will outlast whatever diseases ravage us over time (except barbarianism and totalitarianism.)
If the drug companies were left free to produce, without the threat of lawsuits, without having their products expropriated through government theft programs like Medicare or by outright stealing of patents, then new drugs would be invented to cure the next round of diseases.
Sorry but the government is not the only one with the information. First, everyone has the right and the responsibility to inquire about the drugs they are taking--what they are for, and the possible side effects.
The Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) is a book that is available in any library for as long as I can remember--way before anyone ever heard of the internet. It will give information on any commonly used drug.
If you are on an experimental drug, you also have a document provided by an Institutional Review Board that gives every last detail re complications of the treatment.
Again re Coumadin, it is not a new or exotic drug. It has been used for thinning blood clots way before I got into medical issues (I am a long way from being a youngster.) If the patient doesn't have a blood clot i.e., thrombosis, there may be other reasons why the physician wants to keep the patients blood thin.
It's still the physician's responsibility to monitor the patient on this drug. And, let's not ignore the patient/family responsibility to understand the drugs/treatment.
Hey, thanks for the information which is new to me. I didn't see it before my last post went through. Still stand by my other statements however.
Acetominophen is not nearly as safe as many would think. Many years ago there was an article in my professional periodical about the number of children who died every year because they were administered so many off the shelf cough, cold medicines containing acetominophen which is highly hepato-toxic in excessive doses.
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